Han Yeol became a hero because he felt that he had a duty to his fellow countrymen and nation. His fortitude, however, is hard to come by. Even now in Princeton, where the threats of police brutality and unjust arrests are low, many students hesitate to criticize what they believe the government is doing wrong.

It often seems that people are ruled predominantly by their self-interests, whether they are educated at the finest universities or born into the most prestigious families. But this pessimistic outlook is challenged by the selflessness of the journalists who uncovered the Choi Soon-Sil scandal.

As a bright-eyed, eager freshman at the beginning of the fall semester, I was sure that I had passed all the rites of passage to become a Princetonian. I had gone on my Community Action trip, participated in the myriad of orientation activities, and endured the line at Labyrinth Books for my first textbooks.

When news broke of the racist remarks that Deputy Metro Editor Michael Luo of the New York Times faced last month (An Open Letter to the Woman Who Told My Family to Go Back to China), I with hundreds of my fellow Princetonians was appalled.